Harry Brakmann Helmsley (March 4, 1909 – January 4, 1997) was an American real estate billionaire whose company, Helmsley-Spear, became one of the country's biggest property holders, owning the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...
and many of New York's most prestigious hotels. His second marriage to
Leona Roberts
Leona Roberts (born Leona Celinda Doty; July 26, 1879 – January 29, 1954) was an American stage and film actress.
Life and career
Roberts was born in Monroe Center, Ashtabula County, Ohio. She made her debut on Broadway in 1926 and appeare ...
("Queen of Mean") led to charges of false accounting and tax evasion as well as a celebrated trial, where Harry was judged too frail to plead, but Leona was fined and jailed.
Early career
Harry Helmsley was the son of Henry Helmsley, a wholesale dry goods buyer, and the former Minnie Brakmann. He was born in
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
and brought up in
The Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
, attending
Evander Childs High School, where he did not graduate. The family could not afford a college education, but his grandfather got him a job as an office boy in a real estate firm, Dwight, Voorhis & Perry, where he showed a keen talent for the business and was made a partner. In 1938, he bought the firm, renaming it Dwight, Voorhis & Helmsley. In the early stages of his career, his portfolio consisted mainly of smaller properties in less-affluent parts of New York City, though it was extensive and highly profitable.
Notable properties and companies
In 1954, Helmsley bought the
Lincoln Building, a major office skyscraper on
Forty-second Street. A year later, he bought a real estate management company owned by Leon Spear, and the firm became known as Helmsley-Spear.
In 1961, Helmsley bought the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...
—then the tallest building in the world—despite warnings that the maintenance costs would be too high.
Other notable New York office properties that Helmsley owned during his career included the
Helmsley Building
The Helmsley Building is a 35-story skyscraper at 230 Park Avenue (Manhattan), Park Avenue between East 45th Street (Manhattan), 45th and 46th Street (Manhattan), 46th Streets, just north of Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan nei ...
(230 Park Avenue), the
Graybar Building
The Graybar Building, also known as 420 Lexington Avenue, is a 30-story office building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Sloan & Robertson in the Art Deco style, the Graybar Building is at 420–430 Lexington Avenue between 43 ...
(420 Lexington Avenue), the
Flatiron Building
The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a 22-story, steel-framed triangular building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick P. Dinke ...
(175 Fifth Avenue), the Fisk Building (250 West 57th Street), the
Toy Center
The Toy Center, also known as the International Toy Center, is a complex of buildings in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, New York City, that for many years was a hub for toy manufacturers and distributors in the United States. It includes ...
(200 Fifth Avenue) and 1350 Broadway.
He also invested in large residential properties including Park West Village on Manhattan's west side,
Tudor City
Tudor City is an apartment complex on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan in New York City, bordering the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay and Murray Hill, Manhattan, Murray Hill neighborhoods. It lies on a low cliff east of Sec ...
on the east side, and in
Fresh Meadows
Fresh Meadows is a neighborhood in the northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. Fresh Meadows used to be part of the broader town of Flushing and is bordered to the north by the Horace Harding Expressway and Auburndale; to ...
in Queens and
Parkchester
Parkchester is a planned community and neighborhood originally developed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and located in the east Bronx, New York City. The immediate surrounding area also takes its name from the complex. Its boundari ...
in the Bronx. Industrial properties included the
Starrett-Lehigh Building in Manhattan and Bush Terminal in the Bronx.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Helmsley began investing in hotels. Among his holdings were the Helmsley
Windsor Hotel (West 58th Street), the
Park Lane Hotel
The Sheraton Grand London Park Lane is a 5-star hotel on Piccadilly, London.
The hotel opened in 1927 as The Park Lane Hotel to designs by architects Adie, Button and Partners, in a grand Art Deco style, and was constructed by the developer ...
(Central Park South) and the
Helmsley Palace, which he built behind the
Villard Houses
The Villard Houses are a set of former residences on Madison Avenue, between 50th Street (Manhattan), 50th and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, United States. Designed by ...
on Madison Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets.
In addition to Helmsley-Spear, which had 450 employees by 1980, he also owned
Brown Harris Stevens, Inc., a residential brokerage firm.
Helmsley bought Brown Harris Stevens in 1964. In addition to its high-end residential brokerage business, the company managed residential buildings, including some of the most prestigious co-ops on Park and Fifth Avenues and Central Park West. When Helmsley sold the business in 1995, the company managed 128 buildings.
Helmsley became known as the most influential real estate
magnate
The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
in the city. In addition to his activities in Manhattan, in the early 1970s Helmsley built the
Palace on Brickell, a 254-unit residential condominium tower located along Miami's prestigious Brickell Avenue.
Helmsley's success was attributed largely to a gift for salesmanship, a willingness to delegate authority, and a less-usual acquisition policy of long-term fixed-rate mortgages during a slump and cash purchases when interest rates were low. This policy has since become standard in real estate.
Marriage to Leona
In 1938, he had married a widow, Eve Ella Sherpick Green. In 1971, he divorced her and the next year married Leona Roberts, vice-president of one of his many companies. She was a high-profile manager, dynamic but abrasive ("Queen of Mean"), and she demanded a luxurious lifestyle, quite unlike the modest private life he had been living until then. Basing themselves in a penthouse in the Helmsley-owned
Park Lane Hotel
The Sheraton Grand London Park Lane is a 5-star hotel on Piccadilly, London.
The hotel opened in 1927 as The Park Lane Hotel to designs by architects Adie, Button and Partners, in a grand Art Deco style, and was constructed by the developer ...
on
Central Park South
59th Street is a crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from York Avenue and Sutton Place on the East Side of Manhattan to the West Side Highway on the West Side. The three-block portion between Columbus Circle ...
, they moved into hotel construction and operation on a big scale, diversifying beyond New York for the first time, to many other big centres. Their portfolio included The Helmsley Middletowne Hotel, the New York Helmsley Hotel (also known as the New York Harley), The Helmsley Windsor Hotel, the St. Moritz (now the
Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addit ...
), the
Carlton House
Carlton House, sometimes Carlton Palace, was a mansion in Westminster, best known as the town residence of George IV, during the regency era and his time as prince regent, before he took the throne as king. It faced the south side of Pall M ...
hotels, the Harley Hotel chain and
The Helmsley Building
The Helmsley Building is a 35-story skyscraper at 230 Park Avenue between East 45th and 46th Streets, just north of Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was built in 1929 as the New York Central ...
in New York City.
In 1980, Harry received
The Hundred Year Association of New York
The Hundred Year Association of New York, founded in 1927, is a non-profit organization in New York City that recognizes and rewards dedication and service to the City of New York by businesses and organizations that have been in operation in the ...
's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York."
His crown jewel was New York's 50-story Helmsley Palace Hotel on
Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stree ...
at Fiftieth Street. The hotel opened in 1980 to great fanfare and soon became known as the city's most elegant venue. However, it marked the beginning of financial and legal troubles that would dog the marriage until Harry's death. Partly due to Leona's extravagant plans and frequent demands for changes, the cost of the building skyrocketed, and it was proved that they had contracted some work out to their own subsidiaries at inflated prices. In 1988, they were also charged with major tax evasion based on false accounting. By this time, Harry was judged too frail to plead but Leona served 18 months in prison, in addition to being heavily fined.
Death
Helmsley died of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
at age 87 at a hospital in
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...
, and left all of his empire ($5.5 billion) to his wife, Leona. His remains were initially entombed at
Woodlawn Cemetery Woodlawn Cemetery is the name of several cemeteries, including:
Canada
* Woodlawn Cemetery (Saskatoon)
* Woodlawn Cemetery (Nova Scotia)
United States
''(by state then city or town)''
* Woodlawn Cemetery (Ocala, Florida), where Isaac Rice and fa ...
in the Bronx, New York, but later moved to
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the cemetery, final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground of the ...
in
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States.
The village is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, about ...
.
In popular culture
Helmsley's marriage to Leona was dramatized in the 1990 TV movie ''Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean'', which starred
Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...
as Harry and
Suzanne Pleshette
Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 – January 19, 2008) was an American actress. Pleshette was known for her roles in theatre, film, and television. She was nominated for three Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. For her role as Emily Hart ...
as Leona. Pleshette was nominated for an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
and a
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...
for the portrayal.
See also
*
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
References
External links
American National Biography Listing for Harry Helmsley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helmsley, Harry
1909 births
1997 deaths
American billionaires
American hoteliers
American businesspeople in real estate
Deaths from pneumonia in Arizona
Businesspeople from the Bronx
Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
20th-century American businesspeople